


The Child with the Blazing Red Eyes

by Kitkatjul



Category: Homestuck
Genre: Alternate Universe
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2013-08-06
Updated: 2013-10-21
Packaged: 2017-12-22 16:06:43
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 1,357
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/915232
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Kitkatjul/pseuds/Kitkatjul
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Dirk is handling the challenge of being a Fatherly brother to Dave.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Ignorance isn't so blissful

He dropped out at junior year. Dave was born and Dirk was expected to get a job to support him. Though, he tried as hard as he could to keep in class. To focus. But he had been up all night at his job. Roxy had been up taking care of Dave and she was already getting sick of it. He was falling asleep in class whenever he could until it was unbearable. He dropped out, working as a waiter in a club every night. Roxy, however, couldn’t afford to drop out. She left him with the kid, not even thinking twice.

He hated himself.

But he couldn’t make him give him up.

He had tried, though. He sat at the adoption center’s parking lot thinking until he got frustrated and began crying. Looking at his own son. His flesh and blood. The rule of the Strider family before his parents had died… Striders stick together no matter what. He drove away.

He couldn’t abandon the child with the blazing red eyes.

 

Dave spoke his first word at six months… though; it wasn’t something stereotypical for a baby. Not ‘Mama’ or ‘Dada’ nothing like that.

 

“Bow!”

Dirk turned from the laundry. “Hold on…what?”

“Buh…bruh…bow!”

He raised a brow. “Bro?”

“Bow!”

He smiled lightly, chuckling. “R too hard, huh?”

“Mmh… bow.”

He thought for a moment. “Bro…yeah I think I can work with that.” He picked Dave up, rocking him.

It didn’t surprise him too much to hear him say that, though. He never felt like a dad so he never said it. But his friends came over sometimes and he knew as well as anyone that half of what they say is in fact “Bro”  
  
\----------------------------

Dirk raised him as best he could. Roxy sent money some months and forgot on others. She was on her way to becoming an author for fantasy books – mainly concerning wizards and not very much else. Dirk somehow managed. Nights were long but Ms. Hefferson from one floor down looked after Dave for a good price. Dave was turning five soon and he wanted to give him a good birthday. Roxy sent him a card with a check in it for $25 and a pair of red Converses. Dirk tried to keep the fridge stocked up when he could. If he had his apple juice he was usually content so he was a pretty simple kid. But that was until Kindergarten. School cost money. He worked more shifts and tried applying for another job. At the job he had, the business was going down. The owner had the bright idea to make it a sex club to bring in more customers. But not just any sex club. A mixed gender sex club. Dirk grit his teeth through the night. This was for Dave. Though he still wore black pants with a chain, a white button up blouse, and black vest, at times there would be harassment or inappropriate touches but they wouldn't listen. He basically had to suck it up. He couldn't afford losing his job now.  He looked day after day on his laptop and in the newspaper. After getting frustrated he put his head on the table, trying to figure out how this would affect their food and bills.

Then something amazing came two weeks later.

Roxy sent a letter that smelled of perfume and wine.

_Dear Dirk,_

_I know you have a lot on your plate right now and that it is probably going to be hard for you to pay for Dave’s education. To help him as a mother and you as a friend I have already paid for his elementary. I will try and continue funding the bigger things so you can have some space to breathe._

_Sincerely,_

_Roxy Lalonde_

He was stunned. He held the paper, rereading it over and over. Was she actually _serious_ _about this?_ He set it down, looking completely dumbfounded.

“Oh my god...”

_This woman just saved my ass._

He shook out of his shock, going to check on Dave. He stood up from the table and went into the living room. Dave was watching the TV. Not cartoons or Disney Channel. He was watching MTV. Dirk got used to it awhile ago after watching him watch Bully Beatdown completely content.

“Hey lil man how’s it goin?”

Dave looked up at him, grinning with golden freckles lining across his face and his light blonde hair that draped over his forehead. “This guy’s getting th’ shit beat outta him, bro!”

He laughed “Hey, don’t get too comfy with cursing. You’re goin to school soon,”

Dave stuck out his tongue with a grin always shining. He stood up with a grunt and ran to his brother, hugging his leg.

“Love ya, bro!”

He smiled. “I love you too. Now how ‘bout some lunch, huh?” Dave bounced and headed off to the small apartment kitchen, Dirk following shortly behind.


	2. Meet the Lalondes

Roxy had her daughter, Rose the second year of college. The father she then married and it was the best years of her life.  
James was a very wealthy man and spoiled his two girls. He had bought a mansion hidden in the woods over a waterfall for them to live in, keeping hush hush about his brain cancer.  
Rose was three years old when James died.  
Roxy then drank away her sorrows, tossing her writing career out the window. They never moved from the mansion and Rose was homeschooled by the best teachers she could hire, all graduates from Harvard and Yale.  
But money doesn’t last by sitting still.  
Getting back to her work shortly after Rose’s fourth birthday, she typed quickly. This made it a piece of shit. Frustrated, she typed several novels while sobering, publishing only one. In Wine there is Wisdom became a much loved book which many mothers bought all over America.  
“Mother?” Rose walked to her overstressed mother in a leather recliner. “Are you okay?”  
Roxy let out a tiny sob. “Baby girl you’re so smart for a…a four year old.” She smiled to the small girl with tired eyes.  
“Mother are you thinking of Father?” She tilted her head like a curious kitten, crawling onto the recliner.  
Roxy brushed her hair with her thin fingers. “I think of him all the time. And baby, call me mom or mama. Mother is more formal.” Rose nodded, looking at her perfectly painted lavender nails.  
“Does it make you upset?”  
Roxy sighed. “Of course it does…”  
“Then why think about it?”  
“Some people just can’t get over the past.”  
Rose furrowed her brows. “Then tell me how you feel.”  
“Rose…”  
“No, really! If you let it out, it helps you let go of some emotions you cling to.”  
“…” She let out a deep sigh. “Okay. I think he was…he is a great man. A selfish bastard…but a great man. He was kind. He was an architect and built this house for us and made homes for the homeless. He never once lied to me. But he kept the worst sort of secret. Brain cancer. God… okay I can’t.”  
“No, keep going!”  
“No, baby. You need to head on up to bed.”  
Rose frowned, going to the steps. “I love you, mama.”  
Roxy smiled brightly at her. “I love you too, baby.” 

Paying for not one but two kid’s education was a stupid idea. But it was the least she could do for Dirk and Dave. She had to type out yet another book and start to look for side jobs. Jobs were scarce and the economy was a dick. She took up a greeter at her favorite restaurant nearby with the help of an old friend.  
“Jane, I can’t thank you enough.”  
“It’s nothing! Just smile, sit ‘em down, put out their menus, and restart. Easy!” She smiled with a glowing face.  
“Janey, you’re the best. I owe you.”  
“No, that’s not necessary. But if you insist, you can come over for Easter with Rose. John has been dying to meet her!”  
“You got it, boss!” She giggled, turning to a family at the door.

**Author's Note:**

> I won't be updating frequently because I just started school  
> so  
> Have fun waiting


End file.
